This team is hard to watch...and the NBA is a monopoly.

[yasuhara2241]

I figured this thread will be the best place to hide what I need to say because this team is starting to upset me. We are a team filled with role players who are not being played in their best roles. 

My Lineups: 

Starting: Kemba, Lamb, MKG, Marvin Dwight (Lamb looked great with experienced guys around him. He was very successful and so was our 1st unit. 

Backups: Monk, Bacon, Nic, Frank, Zeller (Develop Monk and Bacon. Monk is not our PG in this lineup on the offensive side. Nic would be our playmaker and our defacto PG. On defense, we can hide Monk until he improves on defense. 

* Even though I have Frank as PF. I want to see him more at the Center position. He does better on the block than our chucking threes. 

* Bring in Graham or MCW on teams that are extremely long. They shouldn't be common bench guys, just matchup guys. 

* Develop, develop, develop. I was so excited in the beginning of the year because it seemed every 3-4 games, Bacon and/or Monk would have amazing games that would help us win a game. As the year goes on I was hoping to see more consistency. Can't see more consistency without playing time. 

 

[The Lobo]

On 11/30/2017 at 6:39 AM, TheMaulClaw said:

     So the Hornets are really bad.  The FO decided to gamble on Howard but it's backfired.  Batum has an awful contract and he's nothing more then a good role player.  Clifford is a good guy, but at best an average coach who's been kept maybe a season too long. Clifford is also at the mercy of Cho...who is at the mercy of the Charlotte market. The Charlotte market is at the mercy of the NBA's god awful structure.  Thus no parody, and perpetual mediocrity for our Hornets.  

     I have no doubt that Jordan wants to win.  I'm sure he looks at how well the Panthers do and wonders how he can get the same type of passion and winning culture out of his team.  Problem is he can't, and it's not because he's incapable on an individual level.  The NFL is a beautiful league because any of the 32 teams can win the Superbowl any year if the FO is smart. Big market, small market...makes no difference in the NFL.  On the contrary, the system is rigged in the NBA.  The big markets own the National TV games, which ultimately mean more endorsement and exposure for the stars.  The NFL is different...just take a peak at all the Aaron Rodgers commercials.  When is the last time we've seen an active Hornet on a national ad?  Larry Johnson?

    So the Hornets need to tank, and shed all the bad contracts.  This team needs to develop talent and take the long term approach. Since the only way we'll ever be decent is if we get lucky in the draft and start collecting top 3 picks. At best we get the 7th or 8th seed and get bounced in the first round of the playoffs this season...and that would be overachieving for this team.  We have no real dominant inside presence.  MKG has always been fragile and when healthy....not good(except the one year with Mark Price).  Kaminsky and Zeller are clones and were redundant picks.  We've yet to find a big man that can consistently put up points since Big Al.  We rely on Williams way to much from the perimeter and I'm tired of seeing him brick threes. Cho has had his run, he's not the right guy for the job. We need a guy who can draft.  I know he's a rocket scientist and all of that, but that means nothing in the world of sports.  His calculations have been wrong.  If this was an Apollo mission, the spaceship would have crashed.  

Time for my turbopun.  With Cho, we'll never go where no man has gone before.

   

Well said. Basically it’s kemba and MIAs. Question is do we keep him and build around or rebuild completely.

[TheMaulClaw]

On 12/8/2017 at 2:15 AM, The Lobo said:

Well said. Basically it’s kemba and MIAs. Question is do we keep him and build around or rebuild completely.

Kemba has been the most consistent player we've had since the Bobcats inception since 2005.  Even with that being the case...Kemba has his limitations and probably isn't a player that can transcend and turn a team around on his own.  I'd like to keep him...but if the offer is right you do Kemba a favor and let him win in the playoffs for once in his NBA career.

[kmgreensman]

I agree with most of your points. I agree with others that Cody and Frank aren't close to the same player. Cody is a good backup center but with the 4th pick? Then with Frank.....could have gotten a number of picks for that pick and may have still been able to get Frank at Celtics pick..I know, hindsight is 20/20 but Frank hasn't been anywhere near the value. There are times that I think he is going to be alright, but then other times I realize he isn't ever going to be what he was in college. 

So we spent a 4th on a backup center....a 2nd pick on a "defensive stopper" that might have the worst shooting form in nba history.. I ask why, why hasn't any coach in his history ever helped him start over? Hornets should do it if they are committed to him.  One year he may suffer, but at least there would be a chance that he could be an average shooter, this way you know he is going to be what he has been for his entire career. There is no way to ever be a consistent shooter with the elbow way over there like that..just can't repeat that motion. 

I saw their other first round pick they dumped on the Trialblazers a few nights ago.... Even though Batum has an awful contract, he is better than who they traded him for.. Batum showed 

 

Why don't we ever find any 2nd round  like Kyle Kuzma.... Bacon is the best 2nd round pick we have made as long as I can remember.  That brings up Monk.

 

I think that Monk is going to be a good player, but watching him lately, he is so scared to play because of how they have coached him.  He is losing his confidence and passed up a three pointer the other game and a shooter doesn't do that unless he hasn't lost or questioning his confidence. I know he is young and there is plenty of time, but I hope he gets that back.  They tried to make him a point guard out of a scorer because they happen to need a point guard.  That isn't Monk's fault that he isn't a point guard.  I will tell you when it happened. That night against the Bulls in Chicago. He had his pocket picked a couple of times by one of the best defensive players in the league and you could see the confidence just leave him.  The next night he barley got off the bench.  You can't do that to him. It wasnt his fault trying to force him to be a point guard.  I know he doesn't play good enough defense to play significant minutes but hell were losing! This kid could be our future scorer.. 

I don't know what the answer is but we aren't getting there from here! 

IMO..

 

 

[kmgreensman]

I must say I didn't realize that MKG jumper hasn't always been this bad. I read the story of it kind of becoming this way from too many people trying to change it. I didn't mean to be cruel. I didn't know that. It must be one of those things now like Charles Barkley's golf swing. It got so bad that it became worse.  I feel for him now. I know he has lost sleep over it. He does hustle his butt off on defense and did a heck of a job from just effort. There is not a player on the team that hustles more. 

[davos]

The damming thing is that Batum will have to be a casualty that we bite a bad incoming contract on. 

I believe we've seen Lamb peak, Monk's shot is off, Dwight is forever Dwight, MKG has peaked and regressed, Zeller is a solid meh, and we're just treading water and in the wrong direction.  

I do think a blow up is in order but we need someone other than Cho to execute it given the contractual wiggling we'll need to figure out.  

New coach, new GM, dare I say, Kemba should even be on the block.  We need a complete rebuild.  

I thought we had a decent core with Kemba, Malik, Cody, Frank, Bacon, etc. but it looks less impressive by the day.  

[Vagrant]

the entire nba is on this weird ass downswing because all the great players refuse to play against each other. it's a generational thing. the only way you can successfully develop now is to get lucky in the draft and snag a star player that will attract other star players so that they choose your team as a destination in free agency. team loyalty is toast. the NBA has become an arms race and the best separate themselves from the field by such a wide margin it's ridiculous. the rest of the league ends up with a team full of role players on good teams and the occasional B+ player like Kemba who as good as he is just isn't enough to get his team to 40 wins alone. we all get excited about our 8th, 11th, 15th overall picks and hang the hopes of our franchise on that player becoming the star to get us to the next level but mostly they're just frank kaminsky, d.j. augustin, and adam morrison. 

this is the depressing reality of the nba and how the best players in the league are slowly killing what the previous generation worked so hard to build. 

the only solution is to clear enough cap space so that when the time comes you can compete financially for those high profile free agent tandems that come up once every couple of years and hope like hell you can draft and develop at least one all star to play with them. that or find the next generational talent in the lottery by some miracle.  

rebuilds suck but they're easy to get through. when you feel your team has a fundamental and unalterable disadvantage that barring an absolute miracle they will be terrible for an indefinite but not insignificant period of time it's just wholly deflating. nobody on our team starts on the warriors. how can anyone watch that 82 times a year?